Technical practice
IT/OT Convergence Architecture
What to coverExplain how you would design a reference architecture that bridges OT systems like PLCs and SCADA with enterprise cloud platforms. Focus on the Purdue Model/ISA-95 layers, data contextualization, and how to maintain secure communication between these distinct environments.
Industrial Connectivity Protocols
What to coverCompare the use cases for OPC UA, MQTT (with Sparkplug B), and Modbus TCP in a smart manufacturing environment. Discuss how you select the appropriate protocol based on requirements for real-time performance, bandwidth constraints, and interoperability.
OT Cybersecurity Frameworks
What to coverHow do you apply IEC 62443 standards to a brownfield manufacturing site? Address strategies for network segmentation, zone and conduit definitions, and managing secure remote access while minimizing operational disruption.
Industrial Data Pipelines and Unified Namespace
What to coverDescribe the role of a Unified Namespace (UNS) in an industrial data architecture. Explain how you would structure data pipelines to ensure time-series data from historians is properly contextualized for downstream AI and analytics consumption.
Edge AI and MLOps
What to coverWhat are the specific challenges of deploying and monitoring AI models at the industrial edge compared to traditional cloud environments? Discuss your approach to MLOps, including model retraining, versioning, and ensuring performance in resource-constrained factory settings.
Digital Twin Implementation
What to coverHow do you define the scope and data requirements for a Digital Twin in a manufacturing context? Explain how you integrate data from MES/MOM, ERP, and real-time sensor streams to create a functional virtual representation of a physical asset.
Predictive Maintenance Strategy
What to coverWalk through the end-to-end process of implementing a predictive maintenance use case. Cover data acquisition from vibration or thermal sensors, feature engineering, model selection for anomaly detection, and the integration of alerts into existing maintenance workflows.
High-Availability Industrial Networks
What to coverWhat design principles do you follow to ensure high availability in industrial networks? Discuss the role of redundancy, time synchronization (PTP/NTP), and managed switching in preventing downtime for critical manufacturing processes.
Behavioural practice
Managing Technical Stakeholders
What to coverDescribe a situation where you had to align diverse stakeholders—such as OT plant managers and IT cloud architects—on a complex technical direction. How did you facilitate the workshop or discussion to reach a consensus on the architecture?
Leading Through Technical Ambiguity
What to coverProvide an example of a project where you had to assess a brownfield environment with limited documentation. How did you perform the site assessment and define a transition architecture that met business objectives without disrupting production?
Handling Project Risks and Delivery
What to coverTell me about a time you identified a significant technical risk during the delivery of a smart manufacturing solution. What actions did you take to mitigate the risk, and how did you communicate the impact to the client?
Driving Business Value from AI
What to coverShare an experience where you had to translate a client's manufacturing pain point into a concrete Industrial AI solution. How did you measure the success of the implementation in terms of business outcomes like downtime reduction or energy efficiency?